258 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



is distinctive in the parasites of Australian birds. Many of tbeseaxe 

 migratory and their parasites are in consequence in many cases identical 

 with, or very closely related to, those which occur in the same or similar 

 birds in Europe and Asia. This is well illustrated by the common 

 occurrence of such widely distributed parasites as Echinostomum revolutum 

 and Notocotylas attenaatus. Among the new forms is Platynotpema 

 biliosum g. et sp. n., a brilliantly-coloured representative of the Dicro- 

 coeliinse from the gall-bladder of a stone-curlew. 



New Genus of Tapeworms.* — F. E. Beddard describes Monmcocestm 

 erethizontis g. et sp. n. from Erethizon dorsatum, the Canadian tree- 

 porcupine. It belongs to the Acoleidas. The scolex end of the living 

 worm swayed about with considerable vivacity. The following 

 characters define the new genus. Scolex unarmed ; proglottids not 

 longer than broad. Genital pores regularly alternating. Excretory 

 tubes two pairs, lying side by side, connected by a transverse vessel from 

 the inner tubes in each proglottid ; no network. Longitudinal muscles 

 feebly developed, without bundles. Reproductive organs visible in the 

 first or second proglottid ; first genital pore in the sixth proglottis. 

 Testes numerous in transverse rows posteriorly, within the area bounded 

 by the excretory vessel. Sperm-duct at first very wide and covered by 

 glandular cells ; after this short and narrow, without coil or seminal 

 vesicle. Cirrus-sac large and very muscular ; cirrus unarmed. Ovary 

 curved in front of smaller vitelline gland. Vagina present in a few 

 early proglottides, later aborted with the exception of a spherical re- 

 ceptaculum seminis. Uterus retiform, meshwork later tending to con- 

 fluence. Eggs with delicate shell. The author compares Monoecocestus 

 in detail with Shipley a, and shows how it differs from that genus. 



Fimbriaria.t— 0. Fuhrmann describes Fimbriaria intermedia sp. n. 



from the eider-duck, and discusses the peculiarities of F. fasciolaris 

 Pallas. The fragile scolex is replaced by a pseudoscolex. The portion 

 of the strobila following the pseudoscolex has lost its external strobilation. 

 but shows some trace of internal segmentation (disappearing in con- 

 tracted forms of F. fasciolaris). The absence of segmentation in the 

 ovary and uterus has led to the disappearance of external segmentation. 

 There is a series of unilateral genital pores and ducts, but the ovary is 

 reticulate*, and in F. fasciolaris the ovaries of different segments are 

 fused. The uterus in both species is reticulate and forms one organ 

 throughout the ripe proglottides. The number of uterine canals corre- 

 sponds to the number of male copulatory organs. Fuhrmann considers 

 the resemblances between Fimbriaria and Hymenolepis, such as the three 

 testes, the two seminal vesicles (one within and one outside the cirrus 

 pouch), the crown of ten hooks on the scolex, and comes to the conclusion 

 that, in spite of the great peculiarity of the uterus, the genus Fimbriaria 

 should be ranked in the family Hymenolepidae. The reticulate structure 

 of the ovary, so striking in Fimbriaria, is seen exceptionally in 

 Hymenolepis (H. bisaccata Fuhrmann). 



* Proc. Zool. Soc, 1914, pp. 1039-55 (9 figs.). 



f C.R. IXe Congres Interaat. Zool. Monaco, 1914, pp. 437-57 (19 figs.). 



